Comcast’s $9.99 Internet for low-income families goes nationwide

Comcast rolled out its Internet Essentials program nationwide today, offering low-income families in its service territory $10/month Internet connections and access to $150 computers.

Any family with at least one child who qualifies for the free lunch program at public schools can subscribe to a low-speed (1.5Mbps) Comcast Internet connection for $9.95 a month. Comcast guarantees that it won't raise the price and offers the plan without equipment rental or activation fees. Subscribers also cannot have "an overdue Comcast bill or unreturned equipment," and they can't have had Comcast Internet in the last 90 days.

Comcast has agreed to sign up families to the program for at least three years, and it also promises to provide free Internet and computer training to those who need it.

Internet Essentials has been rolled out in cities around the country throughout the year—it came to Chicago back in May—but the DC launch today was used to "officially" launch the national program. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was on hand to praise Comcast for helping overcome the "digital divide."

"Students increasingly need to go online to complete their homework assignments," he said. "But one-third of all students and a majority of low-income children can’t. It's not because there aren't countless kids trying to do their very best. We heard about a high school girl in Florida who does her homework in the parking lot of the local library each night, because the library’s wifi hot spot is the only way she can get online."

Every student in the US needs to be "digitally literate," Genachowski said, because it's their "ticket to a new job."

What kind of job, you ask? "I was recently in Indiana to announce the creation of 100,000 new jobs at customer service centers. These workers aren’t just talking on the phone any more. They are processing transactions; accessing records and information; e-mailing, live text chatting, and managing accounts. These activities don't require advanced degrees, but they do require broadband and digital literacy."

This isn't exactly "you can do anything you can dream!" rhetoric, but perhaps it's fitting for the Age of Recession. Still, Genachowski is certainly right to note that even entry-level jobs increasingly require at least some familiarity with computers and the Internet, and that job openings and applications are increasingly available online.

Though Comcast no doubt loves children and cares deeply about the digital divide, its Internet Essentials program was also a part of the conditions under which it was allowed to buy NBC earlier this year. The company pledged to reach 2.5 million low income households with high speed Internet for less than $10 a month, and to sell some sort of computer for $150 or less.